


Practically Magic

by Iocane



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Flowers, M/M, Magic Realism, Wishes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-30
Updated: 2013-01-30
Packaged: 2017-11-27 14:17:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/662954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iocane/pseuds/Iocane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five year old John uses up all of his magic to make one wish, meant to protect his heart.  </p><p>(Inspired by Practical Magic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Practically Magic

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by an early scene in the movie Practical Magic, but I'm not sure it's necessary to have seen it to really understand.
> 
> This hasn't been beta'd in any real way by anyone else but I've tried to edit and smooth it out. 
> 
> There are notes at the end about the flowers.

_The Quinns have always had a touch of magic – legend says they have a bit of faerie blood in them. It's not really the sort of magic most people expect. They don't fly or cast spells, they can't curse your bless you or turn you into things._

_Mostly Quinns just knew things. Things no one could know, like when a bright spring morning would turn to deadly blizzard. Or that Mrs. Kelly's missing husband had fallen down a forgotten well and broken his leg. Or which way to turn a heartbeat before a bullet is fired._

_But it's also whispered that Quinn wishes have a way of coming true._

_John and Harry's mother was a Quinn. Which meant, even though they had the Watson name, they had Quinn wishes._

_When John was five years old, he decided to use up all his wishes on one very powerful wish that would keep his heart safe forever._

*

**

*

John had watched from the upstairs window as his father left. He'd heard the shouting, saw the suitcases his father carried and he knew that he'd never see the man again. He knew the same way he knew he'd never really see his mother again. She'd be there, for a while. Quiet and fading.

A few days later, he and Harry and their mother left the house as well, equally laden with suitcases. They now lived with their mother's aunts – real Quinns, both of them.

Three months later his mother was gone. Drowned, he was told. Terrible accident on the moors, of course.

John knew better. Even at five, he knew his mother had died the day his father left with his suitcases.

One night, shortly after his mother was buried, John slipped down to the attached greenhouse the aunts kept. Once there, he employed the help of a chair, a stool and two cushions to raise himself high enough, retrieving an old book his aunts had told him and Harry about once, and showed them.

The aunts said it was very old, from their grandmother's grandmother. It was supposed to have potions and spells that he was told didn't work any more.

He thought they did, though. He needed to believe they did. Just for tonight, then he would grow up, but tonight, right now, he needed to believe in wishes because it made his chest hurt just a little bit less. His mother was gone but he needed one more miracle.

He found a spell that seemed to suit his needs. A wish for the perfect husband. He didn't care that boys were husbands and girls were wives and he was a boy. There weren't any spells for the perfect wife, a husband would be fine.

He moved through the greenhouse, carefully plucking flowers and as he recited his wish. He was unaware of the potency of his actions, each flower he chose was selected for its proximity to his wish, not for its meaning; and he didn't realize that many were out of season yet still in bloom. Some weren't even native to the country.

“He'll be taller than me. Six feet tall!” He said as he picked a bright red cardinal flower, dropping it into the large wooden bowl he had tucked under his arm.

“His eyes will change color,” he whispered, plucking the petal of a tulip, deep blue striped with vivid green.

“He'll know practically everything,” he said, plucking a vivid purple iris. He heard something behind him, looking over his shoulder to see his sister come in.

“What are you doing?” She asked quietly, looking at the open book, then giving her brother a searching, sad gaze.

“I'm making a love spell, wishing for the perfect husband,” he said, then turned back to the flowers. “He'll know how to fix things that aren't really broken,” he said in a whisper, carefully picking a single tiny yarrow flower from a tightly packed blossom.

“He'll be able to talk to bees,” John whispered with a smile, tucking some rosemary into the wish.

“He'll love only me,” he added a forget-me-not.

“I thought you didn't want to fall in love,” Harry said as she watched him. They'd talked earlier, about how stupid grownups were to fall in love and give their hearts away.

“He'll play the violin,” John whispered, adding the last of the wish, a white oleander flower, before turning to his sister. “That's the point,” he said with sad, quiet determination.

Harry joined him as he carried the bowl outside, and wished with all his might for his perfect husband. Because no one could be all the things he wanted. He wished so hard to love only this person, this impossible husband wished for in his spell, because then he wouldn't become like his mother. He gave his heart to someone who couldn't exist and would never hurt him.

Later when he dreamed about it, he could remember all the flowers shimmering and swirling up out of the bowl. But that was just a dream. All he knew was the aunts found him and Harry the next day, asleep on the porch, curled around each other with an empty bowl in their laps.

**Author's Note:**

> There! I turned Sherlock Holmes into the impossible wish of a five year old, and it was fun!!
> 
> I'm not a flower geek but my BFF Google is!!
> 
> I used this list to select plants largely by their meanings -  
> http://www.iflorist.com/t-meaning.aspx
> 
> Specifically the following, which are mentioned in the above fic:
> 
> http://www.iflorist.com/t-meaning.aspx
> 
> Cardinal Flower: Distinction and Splendor
> 
> Tulip, Variegated: Beautiful eyes  
> According to Google, the flower John picks doesn't exist, the only two variegated tulips I could find were red/yellow and white/pink. I figure once I've got him casting a spell, I'm allowed to use made-up flowers. :)
> 
> Iris: Faith, Wisdom, Valor, Your Friendship means so much to me
> 
> Yarrow: Healing
> 
> Rosemary: Constancy, Fidelity and Loyalty  
> Also meant to be very good for attracting bees.  
> http://gardening.about.com/od/attractingwildlife/a/Bee_Plants_2.htm
> 
> Forget-me-not: Faithful Love, Memories
> 
> Oleander: Beauty and Grace


End file.
